Northern Star
by MimikyuASH
Summary: They may not always be on the best of terms, but they will always have one thing to fall back on...their friendship.
1. Chapter 1

The pain could be felt deep in her soul as her heart and mind began tearing her apart inside. Her mind reminds her of where her loyalties should lie, but her heart pulls her to believe what she already knows to be true. He'd never lie to her. Not after all they've been through. They've come to mean too much to each other to believe that he'd ever lie to her now. Knowing that's true, knowing he would never put her through this pain if he could avoid it, only one truth stood vividly before her. A truth she never wanted to believe. A truth too painful to accept yet there it was. The only scenario possible. Still, even with her known truth, she still finds herself sitting before the man she has come to care so much for, demanding the truth she already knows in her heart. Needing it to fall from his lips. To be spoken with his voice. Needing to hear it now more than ever.

"Tell me." she demands when he remains stoic in his seat, his eyes barely meeting hers. "Say it!"

"You won't believe me."

Reaching out her hands to hold his, she forces his gaze to meet hers before saying, "Try me."

"I was defending myself." Jason says plainly, searching her eyes for acceptance as he utters, "He attacked me with a knife."

A single tear drops down her cheek as her hold slips from his hands. Slowly rising to her feet without a single word, she turns her back on him, taking a deep breath before walking over to the door and pulling it open. As she's about to walk out the door, she hears her name fall from his lips, almost pleading with her to stop. This was all her fault. She allowed herself to fall for another man. She allowed him entrance to her heart and gave it freely without hesitation. Lucky went after him because her heart was no longer his for the taking and now she must make it right for Jason's sake.

"I..." Elizabeth breathes in deep before whispering, "I believe you."

With that said, she walks out of the interrogation room, swiftly shutting the door behind her. As she walks off to speak to the police commissioner on Jason's behalf, the man lets out a deep breath of relief as he relaxes into the metal chair beneath him. No one believes his version of things, not that he blamed them, it wasn't a far stretch from his usual endeavors. None of their opinions mattered, however, none but hers. He had feared she wouldn't believe him. That she would hate him for an act done simply out of self defense, but he finds relief in knowing she didn't feel that way toward him. Knowing she believed him above her childhood love, its all that mattered. No one else had to believe him. No one but her.

She knew it wouldn't be easy to convince the cops that Jason was innocent. It wasn't going to be easy to prove that a well known mob enforcer was simply defending himself, but she will find a way to prove it. She will do whatever it takes to get him out of that place. Not knowing any other way, Elizabeth makes the only choice available to her and that was to prove Lucky was lying. What other way than to get him to confess to the crime he committed against Jason. Though he didn't want to help her clear Jason's name by any means, a more pressing fact has Lieutenant Taggert at her side in her efforts to take claim of the truth.

"You sure you can handle this?" Taggert questions her, trying to get her to see what she was walking into. "Lucky is the man you love, isn't he?"

"This won't be easy. I know that." Elizabeth replies simply. "But what matters more to you, Lieutenant? My childhood love, as you put it, or getting an unstable man off the streets and into a place where he can receive the help he needs? Unless you'd prefer he spirals further out of control and one of your people is taken at knife point instead."

"Point made." Taggert concedes, pulling open the door to the closet. "I'll be right in here. Try to get this over with as fast as you can manage."

"Understood."

"And...be careful." Taggert comments. "Like you said, he's spiraling..."

"I'll handle getting the confession." Elizabeth says simply, sliding her hand over the handle as he walks into the closet. "You just make sure you walk out when I get it."

Before Taggert could say more than that, Elizabeth shuts the door in his face, taking in a deep breath to prepare herself for the conversation ahead. She's seen the signs, she's noticed all the changes that Lucky has undergone, she just never thought any of those would bring them to where they are now. Hearing the knock at the door, she puts on her bravest persona and opens the door, letting in the man she had loved for so long. Fighting off the tears, she gestures for him to enter before shutting the door behind him, skillfully placing herself in front of it in an attempt to block his exit.

"What's going on?" Lucky fires off, uncertainty in the way she's looking at him. "You said it was urgent."

"It is." Elizabeth replies. "I wanted you to hear it from me..."

"Hear what?"

"Jason..." Elizabeth shakes her head. "The police are releasing him soon."

"They're what?!" Lucky blurts out in anger. "Why would they do that? He attacked me!"

"For some reason, they're under the impression that you were the one that instigated the fight." Elizabeth counters firmly. "So, I gotta ask, Lucky, is it true? Did you attack Jason without cause?"

"Without cause? Are you kidding me?" Lucky looks at her in disbelief. "I had cause! Not that you'd care, but I did it for you!"

"For me? Are you serious?" Elizabeth stares at him like she was truly seeing him for the first time. "You attacked Jason with a knife for my benefit?! Have you seriously lost your damn mind, Lucky?"

"No, Elizabeth, its you that's lost your mind." Lucky snaps back. "You let him into your head...let him brainwash you...what did you really expect me to do? Not protect you?!"

"I expected you to trust me." Elizabeth says, pulling open the door the same time Taggert started to push open the closet. "Now...now, I expect you to answer for your crimes. He's all yours, Lieutenant."

"What is this? What's happening?!" Lucky shakes his head quickly, looking from Elizabeth to Taggert and back. "Elizabeth...you set me up?! Why? Why would you betray me like this?! Answer me, dammit!"

"Lucas Lorenzo Spencer Junior, you are under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon..." Lieutenant Taggert began reading him his charges and rights as he placed the handcuffs on his wrist.

Lucky barely acknowledged the question of comprehension to his rights as he stared at Elizabeth as he was escorted out of the studio. As soon as they cleared the threshold, Elizabeth quickly shuts the door behind them before dropping to her knees. How could it have come to this? How could they let things get this far out of hand with him? Tears falling as the pain spreads through her body, she allows herself to grieve before pulling herself together again. It was done. She corrected the wrong that was done by Lucky and now it was time to move forward. Now it was time to leave Port Charles behind once and for all.

It doesn't take too long for the police to process Lucky and release Jason from lockup. Among his things, he finds a letter from Elizabeth, courtesy of Lieutenant Taggert. Straddling his bike, Jason rushes to the studio, finding it empty sans a single painting sitting on an easel in the center of the room. Tearing open the letter he reads it, having nothing more that he could do at this point. Reading her letter, he almost wishes that she hadn't believed him. That she had believed Lucky and left him in that cell to rot. At least then she'd still be in Port Charles. Securing the studio, locking it up tight, Jason straddles his bike and takes off through the town. If she's not going to be in town then neither will he.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't an easy choice to return to town for either of them, but it was one that they had to make. With Elizabeth's grandmother's health failing and Emily bedridden due to her cancer, they were both needed back home, a choice they would inevitably make. Not too long after stepping foot in the same town once again, however, Jason and Elizabeth have found themselves at odds with each other over choice of other halves. Neither could have predicted that they'd both end up with one of Sonny's siblings, but that's the reality before them and neither appreciate it in the least.

Stopping by the hospital, like he's done every night since she was admitted, Jason makes his way to the chapel to say a small prayer for his sister. With no physical being to crush in order to save his sister, Jason's only relief is his faith and the prayer he recites any chance he gets. What was meant to be a short visit to the chapel turned into an hour just sitting there in the candlelit room alone, though that didn't last much longer than that as a single hand slid onto his shoulder, gently resting atop of it. He hadn't heard her enter, but he knew it was her without a single glance in her direction. Her touch was one that couldn't be mistaken.

Giving his shoulder a slight squeeze of reassurance, she makes her way around to take a seat by his side, granting him a soft smile as their eyes meet. Regardless of all that's going on between them because of the people around them, he's thankful that they can still find peace in the moments between just them. They'll find a way to fix the problems that have plagued their friendship these last couple weeks, somehow they always do, its one of the few constants in his life that he can rely on.

They don't say anything to each other as they sit there praying for his sister's recovery. Though normally silence would mean something bad, he finds comfort in the silence that falls over them, knowing that it meant they still had what matters most. Their connection to each other that exists without explanation. Without reason. It exists and it continues to do so despite outside forces trying to end it. His hand seeking hers, he holds it firmly in his grasp, lending whatever strength he possess to her. The fear of losing her best friend has taken its toll on her and he wishes more than anything he could take both their pain away. Like his sister, however, all he can do for her is just be there, lend the comfort his presence seems to grant them.

"Jase, I thought I'd find you..." the voice of his girlfriend, Courtney, breaks the silence in the room, her shocked gaze fluttering between the two of them. "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth doesn't say anything as she rises to her feet, a different kind of silence taking her over as she moves to release the hold between her and Jason. Knowing she'll leave now without a single word to him, Jason uses the hold to pull her into his arms for a warm embrace, knowing it'll be a while before they're alone like this again. Whispering a soft thank you, he holds her tightly for a moment before releasing his hold on her, allowing her to leave the room. Just as she was about to walk out of the room, her eyes meet his for a brief moment, a soft smile touching her lips as a single tear drops down her cheek. Expressing her thanks in the only way she knew how before leaving him and his girlfriend to themselves in the chapel.

The moment the door shut behind Elizabeth, his girlfriend starts in on the same questions that has been plaguing their relationship since it came out that Elizabeth was with Sonny's brother. He knows that they have to find a way to get Elizabeth away from her boyfriend, but he wasn't going to overstep her boundaries for the sole purpose of her own benefit. She has never told him what to do with his life and he refuses to be a hypocrite by doing so. A concept that those around him just can't seem to grasp, his girlfriend included. They want him to force her to see it from their side, but he refuses to do so and he'll continue to stand by Elizabeth until she deems it necessary for him to step in.

Ending the conversation before they could get further into it, Jason walks with Courtney up to Emily's room, thankful to find that her condition has stabilized. All this time, all the fear that had nestled into his being, Jason was happy to see her alert and smiling. Looking into the room, he wasn't at all surprised to see Elizabeth inside with Nikolas. Things had been rocky for a while after Elizabeth had Lucky arrested, but the two have come to a better place with their friendship and he's thankful for that. Though he's not too fond of the Cassadine prince, he knows what that friendship means to her and he's thankful for her sake that they could move past it all.

"Hey, Jason." Nikolas voices when he walks out of the room. "She's asking for you."

"Thanks." Jason replies before walking past him into the room.

"Not you." Nikolas says, blocking Courtney's path as the door shuts behind Jason. "She needs those two right now."

"I'm his girlfriend." Courtney says seriously. "I should be in there with him."

"Turn your selfish desires off for a moment, Ms. Matthews." Nikolas says seriously. "Emily's my girlfriend, so, if I can find the strength to be out here, you can do the same."

Standing at the window, Courtney stares in at Elizabeth and Jason as they both sit on either side of Emily, holding her hand in theirs. The moment was so beautiful, so much so that she wishes it were her in there with them instead of Elizabeth. The three remain in that position for a long moment as Emily talks to both of them before Elizabeth leans in and places a kiss on Emily's forehead. Much like the chapel, her eyes meet Jason's for a brief moment before she releases Emily's hand and walks out of the room. Still, even with Elizabeth out of the room, Nikolas still blocks her path to enter the room, giving Jason time with his sister without interruption.

"How is she really?" Emily asks Jason, needing the truth, something she just wasn't getting from Elizabeth. "She's still with him?"

"She's trying to keep the faith that he's not a bad person." Jason explains. "She doesn't want to let herself see the truth."

"That's Elizabeth...always trying to see the best in people no matter how small that part may be." Emily sighs. "We gotta be there for her, you know?"

"She knows I'm here." Jason says simply. "All she has to do is say the word."

"Yeah...I can see that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Emily smiles softly. "I'm just glad she has you."

"Sure." Jason glances back at his girlfriend waiting for him by the window before meeting his sister's eyes. "I should head out. I'm glad you're going to be okay."

"Looks like you're stuck with me for longer than we thought."

"Good." he says with a soft smile before leaning in to place a kiss upon her forehead. "I'll see you soon."

"Jason?" she calls out to him as he's about to pull open the door to leave.

"Yeah?" he turns back to look at her curiously.

"Check in on her, will ya?" Emily requests. "Its gonna be a while before I get the chance to do it myself, you know."

"Sure." he replies after a moment of thought. "Get some rest."

"Will do."

Leaving the room, he waits long enough for Nikolas to sit by her bedside before he and Courtney head out of the hospital. He knows why he's worried about Elizabeth still being with that prick, but he was starting to wonder where Emily's concern stems from. He hasn't told her anything about Ric or the dealings that have him wary of the man. For her to pick up on the friction and find reason to worry for Elizabeth has him a little more concerned than he had been before. Taking Courtney to Sonny's to spend time with Carly, he decides to make good on his promise and head over to Elizabeth's place, hoping now more than ever she's alone and that bastard isn't there with her.


End file.
